Riga (Latvia) - 16th and 17th of November 2009

Thankfully, after a 300km journey that took 7 hours thanks to two very long border stops (including scary Russians and Latvians searching through our bags) our hostel in Riga had a room available that we could check into at 6am. So we spent the morning snoozing before heading out for a walk in the afternoon.

The first stop was the awesome central market which sells a bit of everything. Ange is in love with markets (in case you didn't know), so it took some doing to get her to leave!
But once we did leave, we spent a bit of time getting lost in the old town. Riga's old town is very impressive - lots of cool church spires, winding streets and colourful buildings, and arguably the best we have seen.

Just north of the old town is the old town moat, now a very picturesque park.

On the hour every hour they have a changing of the guard at the Freedom Monument, built in 1935, which was the focus of the Latvian independence (from the Russians) movement in the late '80s and early 90s.

Bit more of a walk around as the light was fading.

Although it was a Monday night, we thought we would give the Riga nightlife a shot. Started off with some very yummy cocktails followed by an awesome Italian meal (all at rediculously cheap prices) but unfortunately there was no nightlife to be found so we headed home at a reasonable hour ready for a big days walking the following day.

We jumped on an 8am bus out to the Gauja National Park, Latvia's first national park, founded in 1973. We got off the bus in Sigulda, and made our way past Sigulda Church to the New Sigulda Castle.

Just behind the New Sigulda Castle, on the edge of the valley, are the ruins of the Knights Stronghold, built between 1207 and 1226. They haven't been restored at all, so its amazing to think that this has been standing here for about 800 years.

From Sigulda, on one side of the valley, so Krimulda on the other side. We could have walked, but instead chose the much more exciting option of taking the cable car, which stretches for over 1km across the valley.

The ruins of Krimulda Castle.

From Krimulda, it was good hours hike along the river to Turaida. But it was a great walk, passing by some picture perfect lakes and a couple of very old caves, one with graffiti on it from the 1600's.

Feeling a little bit wary, we finally made it to Turaida, home to a 13th century red-bricked archbishop's castle. The castle is in the middle of some great gardens and has been partially restored, allowing us a great glimpse into the past. View from the top of the Doujon Tower.

Having walked all that way, we weren't planning on walking back, so we jumped in a cab for the 5 minute ride back to Sigulda. The whole area is known as a bit of a adrenaline-junkie spot - in summer you can bungee jump off the cable car. In winter, if you time it right, you can jump in the back of a bobsled and be taken down Sigulda's very own bobsled track, built for the former soviet bobsled team. We were both very keen to do it, but the track was closed because it was in use as a training venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Our two days in Latvia were arguably the highlight of our trip. Riga's old town and the beautiful Gauja National Park left us wanting more. Luckily Estonia was not to disappoint...